6 Years After Plan Launched For 22,000 km2 Native Forest Preserve In Saskatchewan, 90% Of It Has Been Destroyed By Fire

Recent wildfires in northern Saskatchewan have wiped out 90 per cent of a proposed Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area, according to residents and workers. The damage includes areas of both cultural and ecological significance for the Métis community, including caribou habitat and harvesting areas. Île-à-la-Crosse is one of the oldest communities in Western Canada, interim Mayor Vince Ahenakew says, founded 250 years ago next year. Over generations, the Métis community developed deep relationships with the boreal forest, passing down the traditions of hunting and trapping.

In 2019, the community received federal funding to explore the possibility of creating an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area in the N-14 Fur Block, a 22,000 square kilometre region of their territory — around four times the size of Prince Edward Island. They called it Sakitawak, after the Cree name for Île-à-la-Crosse, which means “the place where the river flows out.” But in 2022, federal funding lapsed, and in the summer of 2023, wildfire devoured half of the proposed protected area. Now, Ahenakew tells The Narwhal, another devastating wildfire season has burned nearly everything that was left.

EDIT

Today, the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan issued a state of emergency in what’s known as Northern Region III, which encompasses Île-à-la-Crosse. “We are witnessing the destruction of traplines, harvesting areas, traditional medicines and critical habitats — the very foundations of our way of life. These are not just environmental losses; they are direct threats to our section 35 rights under the Constitution. This is not only an environmental crisis — it is a constitutional and cultural emergency,” Brennan Merasty, minister of self-determination and self-government for Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, said in a statement.

EDIT

Ahenakew worries about the hunters and trappers in his community. “That’ll be a big impact,” he says. “The youth want to try trapping, but there might not be enough for them.” As for the woodland caribou, he says, “Most of their habitat in the Pine River region is gone.” According to Kent, Pine River is another key area covered by the protected area. It’s not only a calving ground for the caribou, but also the only source for a traditional medicinal plant, which has been lost to fire. “It was the last remaining old-growth forest that the [proposed protected area] had left,” Kent wrote to The Narwhal by email. “It will take 70 years for the forest to regrow and for some animals and plants to return.” Meanwhile, the fires are still burning.

EDIT

https://thenarwhal.ca/sakitawak-ipca-burns-2025/